Thursdays of Sword & Sorceress 27 – the Deborah J. Ross interview
This week’s interview is with Deborah J. Ross.
1.) Tell us about yourself.
I began publishing professionally in 1982 as Deborah Wheeler with JAYDIUM and NORTHLIGHT, and short stories in ASIMOV’S, F & SF, REALMS OF FANTASY, STAR WARS: TALES FROM JABBA’S PALACE, and almost all the SWORD & SORCERESS anthologies. Now under my birth name, Ross, I am continuing the “Darkover” series of the late Marion Zimmer Bradley; I’ve done some anthology editing and am a member of Book View Café. Two of my stories (“Mother Africa” and “The Price of Silence”) have earned Honorable Mention in THE YEAR’S BEST SF. In between writing, I’ve lived in France, worked as a medical assistant to a cardiologist, revived an elementary school library, and studied kung fu san soo, Hebrew, and yoga.
2.) Why do you write?
I wrote and illustrated my first book when I was in 4th grade and haven’t stopped since. For so long, it’s been my secret pleasure, the thing I have fought for time to do. Writing nourishes me as it teaches me to see life — and myself — through different eyes.
3.) Sword & Sorceress is known for sword & sorcery centered around a strong female character. Is there any particular trick to writing strong female characters?
Well, the most important thing is to not make them men in drag. Women can be physically strong, and skillful as well — witness the recent Olympics in London — but too often, strength defined by fighting prowess or muscular power is a “male” definition. Interesting women characters have other kinds strength as well — determination, intelligence, strength of spirit, emotional courage, compassion.
4.) What would you say makes sword & sorcery different than other kinds of fantasy?
For me, it’s just plain fun. Really, what can you say about dragons and sorcery and bashing people with swords? But that’s only the raw material. It’s an opportunity to take those cultural tropes of conflict and turn them inside out.
5.) How do you think ebooks and the Internet will change the way we read & write?
I don’t think writing will change; the first and only essential word processor is the writer’s mind, after all. People will always want to read or hear or see stories, whether chanted by a bard or experienced in virtual reality. It’s only the technology that changes. Oral storytelling didn’t disappear with the invention of writing, and written stories won’t disappear, either. Ebooks are a wonderful development because they offer portability and ease of access (and studies indicate people are actually reading more). We’re in a shake-down transitional period with regard to quality control and internet marketing, but I’m sure the current chaos will settle out eventually. There will always be a place for printed books, so I’m actually quite optimistic about the future of all kinds of publishing.
6.) Tell us about your Sword & Sorceress story.
I’d been developing a nomadic horse people for my fantasy trilogy, THE SEVEN-PETALED SHIELD (forthcoming from DAW) and thinking about the ways women are strong in these cultures, and also the kind of stories these people would tell. Their “great deeds” tales might be about battles, but most likely overcoming natural dangers — hunting, bad weather, or terrible predators. I put that together with the amazing toughness and resourcefulness of Pre-Columbian (pre-horse-culture) Native Americans, stuck in endangered parallel worlds, and turned the whole world shades of green. Why these disparate and very strange things came to me, I have no idea. I’m like the Wizard of Oz, “I don’t know how it works.”
7.) Can you share an excerpt from your Sword & Sorceress story?
Here’s the bison hunt:
The bull was closing fast, his head lowered, the tips of his sweeping horns aimed at the hunters. [Moon]drew the bow to its maximum tautness and held it, waiting for a target. From behind her, the others loosed a volley of arrows. One landed short and the others bounced off harmlessly. No arrow could pierce that thick hide or that massive skull.
Closer . . . Moon calmed herself as her arm muscles trembled under the strain. If he turns but a little . . .
“Aiee! Run!” Hawk yelled.
Moon heard their scattered flight, the cries of her sister, “Moon! Come on!”
The ground beneath her feet quivered like a drum. His hooves tore into the sod, throwing up clods and dust. Still she waited. At the last moment, when the bull was but a breath away from her, he swung his head to one side. One golden eye caught her in its gaze.
She loosed her arrow.
The arrow plunged deep into the bison’s eye socket. He let out a fearsome cry. The reek of his blood shrilled in the air.
Moon scrambled out of the bison’s path. Propelled by the momentum of his charge, he hurtled into the very place she had been standing and fell to his knees. Swiftly she drew another arrow and notched it to the bowstring.
Before she could take aim, the bull heaved himself to his feet. The shaft of her first arrow had broken off, leaving a bloody wound. He slung his head around, fixing her with his one good eye. In its molten-gold depths, she read terrible pain but also an unmistakable challenge. She lowered the tip of her arrow, fractionally releasing the tension on her bow. In that moment, the bull whirled away. She did not think an animal that size could move so nimbly. Trailing drops of crimson, the bull galloped away.
Moon watched him go. Her heart clenched. To kill one of the bison was an act of courage, of daring, and also of necessity, an act that allowed her people to survive the frozen darkness of the Ice Raven. But to wound such a noble creature, to let it suffer . . .
In shame, she hung her head.
“Moon!” Rushing up, Dew threw her arms around her sister. “I thought you’d be killed!”
Someone else said, “What a shot! We will sing of it to our grandsons!”
“We will do no such thing.” Moon unstrung her bow and slung it across her back. Blinking back tears, she averted her face so that none of the others could see. Theirs was the glory of the hunt, the herd now galloping away. “Go!” she cried. “The hunt calls you!”
8.) Recommend one other book or short story you have written that we should read.
If “A Hunter of the Celadon Plains” appeals to you, you might also enjoy the trilogy I mentioned, THE SEVEN-PETALED SHIELD, but I’m still in revisions and don’t have a publication date yet. My second published novel, NORTHLIGHT, is a bit like Darkover in that it’s technically science fiction but has the flavor of fantasy, with horses and knife fighting and a very gutsy but fallible heroine. It’s out of print, but readily available and in ebook format, too.
9.) Recommend one non-fiction book that you haven’t written.
A little while ago, I delved into Raphael Patai’s THE HEBREW GODDESS. It’s an anthropological study of the matriarchal, goddess-centered roots of Judaism (and therefore, all the Abrahamic religions) and how these archetypes evolved and became incorporated into a monotheistic tradition. What a treasure trove of story ideas and insights, quite apart from the theological implications. I give you permission to skip the scholarly stuff and get to the good parts.
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Thanks, Deborah, for the interview.
Check out our interviews with past S&S contributors – , , , Sword & Sorceress 25, and Sword & Sorceress 26.
And the novel featuring my Sword & Sorceress character, spy and assassin Caina Amalas, is now available for free in all ebook formats: Child of the Ghosts.
